Coca-Cola (often referred to simply as Coke) is an American carbonated soft drink produced by The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Originally intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Pemberton.The current formula of Coca-Cola remains a trade secret, although a variety of reported recipes and experimental recreations have been published.

19th-century historical origins - Eagle Drug and Chemical House in Columbus, Georgia John Pemberton, the original inventor of Coca-Cola

Confederate Colonel John Pemberton, who was wounded in the American Civil War and became addicted to morphine, began a quest to find a substitute for the problematic drug. The prototype Coca-Cola recipe was formulated at Pemberton's Eagle Drug and Chemical House, a drugstore in Columbus, Georgia, originally as a coca wine. He may have been inspired by the formidable success of Vin Mariani, a French coca wine.

In 1885, Pemberton registered his French Wine Coca nerve tonic. In 1886, when Atlanta and Fulton County passed prohibition legislation, Pemberton responded by developing Coca-Cola, a nonalcoholic version of French Wine Coca. The first sales were at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 8, 1886.

It was initially sold as a patent medicine for five cents a glass at soda fountains, which were popular in the United States at the time due to the belief that carbonated water was good for the health. Pemberton claimed Coca-Cola cured many diseases, including morphine addiction, indigestion, nerve disorders, headaches, and impotence. Pemberton ran the first advertisement for the beverage on May 29 of the same year in the Atlanta Journal